Okay, I know it’s almost 5pm and you’re probably like, “Where the hell is Nikki’s post?” But I have kind of been avoiding this blog post. I know I don’t HAVE to blog about this if I don’t want to and I could share just the ONE good fillable ornament I made, but where’s the fun in that?

Remember when I was so excited that Factory Direct Craft sent me a box of fillable ornaments? I had all these grand plans of how awesome they would be. However, I wanted to try and make them with things I had around the house. Mainly to save money but have you been to Michael’s lately? It’s like everyone, all the sudden, is a crafter this time of year. The line is crazy long, but I stuck it out for some Christmas-y glitter and ribbons. With my 40% off coupon duh!

So I set up my supplies and go to work. This is where things started to go awry. I thought it would be cool to lightly spray the adhesive on the inside of the balls (hehe balls) and then sprinkle glitter over the spray for this pretty glittery look. NOPE! The spray wasn’t going on clear. Maybe because it’s for stencils? Any pro crafters out there? Helllooo? Needless to say, the green and red glitter remains unopened.

Ugh. So I started getting discouraged. Then, I got a package in the mail for one of my BFF’s save-the-date. It had this fun yellow packaging and a light bulb went off. I’ll use this fun yellow stuff and write the song I sing for Molly on it! Well, forget about stenciling… have you tried to put a stencil on a round object? NOT HAPPENING. And I don’t have a vinyl cutter (Do ya hear that Santa?) so I can’t make pretty vinyl letters. I decided to freehand.

Big mistake. I swear I have better handwriting than a 6 year old. Plus, the ornament busted open and smeared the “m.”

So at this point I’m really disgruntled. Next, I took some inspiration from John & Sherry over at Young House Love. FAV blog. I thought it would be cool to use the paint technique they blogged about. But…. I didn’t love it. I think if I added some water to the paint it would’ve turned out a little better. I guess my craft button was on off this day.

This is when a stencil or vinyl lettering would have really come in handy. This ornament was somewhat salvageable until I got my shaky hands on it and tried to paint an “M” for Molly. Icing lettering on a cake? No problem! On a ball? No way.

You may be wondering why I trekked on. I probably should have just given up after the monstrosities I was producing, but I was DETERMINED to make something worthy of our tree. (Although, I will admit our tree is a little small for these large ornaments… keep that in mind when ordering.)

This next one is a little better. My mother-in-law collected acorns for our wedding as little favors for the rehearsal dinner. She spray painted them and packaged them up really cute with candy corn. So I took some of the packaging and the acorns and put them in an ornament. It’s really hard to get them to sit just right in the ornament, but I thought it was kind of neat. (Sorry for the poor quality photos… I need to charge the big cam so I used my phone.)

Meh. Still not that great. But have no fear. I will end on a high note. One ornament turned out great! It’s simple and beautiful! I cut up our wedding invite and curled up the pieces on a pencil. Voila!

YAY! So after all that… I finally got something that was tree worthy! I do have a few extra fillable ornaments. Should I go another round? Any ideas or tips? Or should I retire my fillable ornament crafting?

Halloween is over so that means it’s time to start thinking about Christmas, right?! Well, it is starting to creep up in my mind, mainly I’m wondering where the heck I’m going to put my Christmas tree. A) Because our place is so small and B) because Molly will probably try to climb right to the top! So that will be interesting.

Speaking of Christmas trees, I am planning on creating some ornaments and I am very excited about the craft supplies I received from Factory Direct Craft. They recently sent me some acrylic fillable ornaments and I have so many ideas on what to fill them with. It’s never too early to get started!